2025-10-07, 11:02 AM
Hey all! Congrats on the progress so far; just getting to the point of being able to flash firmware is a really good sign! From that point, you're quite frustratingly close to having a working device!
This is odd, I haven't heard this before. I'd expect JLC to ask for confirmation on a lack of copper, but I haven't heard of anyone having an issue like this with the outline. Just in case, I've attached a fresh export of this piece. It looks like it renders fine in JLC's gerbers viewer, so hopefully it works okay for you.
tangara-panel.kicad_pcb_gerber.zip (Size: 5.12 KB / Downloads: 1)
Just one quick note on the topic of touchwheel covers: do make sure to order thin PCBs for these! We used 0.6mm for our production units. A thicker cover won't fit in the case correctly, and will have reduced sensitivity.
Are you measuring this with a multimeter, or an oscilloscope? This pin is driven via PWM, so it's possible that a multimeter reading could be giving you an average voltage.
I would be most suspicious of the J4 pins (give the LED_ENABLE pin a poke with a needle to see if it's budging; possibly it's a dry joint?), or perhaps the LED_ENABLE pin on the ESP needing a reflow. You may also want to inspect the corresponding pins on the display panel where it's soldered to the faceplace.
Quote:Q1: I can't get the touchwheel cover to export correctly from KiCad into JLCPCB. I even downloaded the FabricationToolkit plugin which is supposed to do it exactly in the format the guys at JLCPCB want it in. When I texted customer support they said I didn't have a separate outline layer which I didn't really understand since the Edge.Cuts layer gets used for both the faceplate and mainboard correctly. Anyone else facing the same issue?
This is odd, I haven't heard this before. I'd expect JLC to ask for confirmation on a lack of copper, but I haven't heard of anyone having an issue like this with the outline. Just in case, I've attached a fresh export of this piece. It looks like it renders fine in JLC's gerbers viewer, so hopefully it works okay for you.
tangara-panel.kicad_pcb_gerber.zip (Size: 5.12 KB / Downloads: 1)
Just one quick note on the topic of touchwheel covers: do make sure to order thin PCBs for these! We used 0.6mm for our production units. A thicker cover won't fit in the case correctly, and will have reduced sensitivity.
Quote:Update I narrowed part of the problem down to the backlight on the display. It seems like pin 8 on my ESP32 is floating - if I short the pins 12 (LED_ENABLE) and 13 (3v3) on the J4 connector on the mainboard, the screen lights up (and sometimes stays lit up). It sounds like the firmware doesn't drive this GPIO correctly? When I measure the voltage on ESP32 pin8, it's consistently something like 0.5V
Are you measuring this with a multimeter, or an oscilloscope? This pin is driven via PWM, so it's possible that a multimeter reading could be giving you an average voltage.
I would be most suspicious of the J4 pins (give the LED_ENABLE pin a poke with a needle to see if it's budging; possibly it's a dry joint?), or perhaps the LED_ENABLE pin on the ESP needing a reflow. You may also want to inspect the corresponding pins on the display panel where it's soldered to the faceplace.
